Medanales, NM
Medanales wildfire risk explained
USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities model puts Medanales at the 80th national percentile for risk to structures, well above the national norm for wildfire risk — a score built from 215 actual buildings. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
USFS's separate burn-probability score — fire likelihood alone, before counting what's built there — puts Medanales at the 76th percentile, close to its 80th-percentile risk score.
What "at risk" means for the buildings here
USFS classifies 99.1% of Medanales's buildings as Direct exposure, higher than its 0.9% Indirect share and far above its 0% Minimal share — a profile where 213 structures sit close enough to vegetation that lot clearing matters most.
Medanales against the rest of the country
Inside New Mexico, Medanales sits at just the 52nd percentile even though it scores 80th nationally — the state's overall wildfire exposure is high enough to make this a relatively quiet corner of it. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Medanales ranks 6,373 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 24,315 by building count (1 is largest). Within New Mexico alone, it ranks 236 of 495 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for New Mexico on its state page.
What this risk score means for insurance
At the 80th percentile nationally, Medanales carries the high rating that has pushed some carriers to limit new business in similarly-scored places elsewhere in the country. Worth comparing quotes rather than assuming last year's renewal terms still apply.
What would actually reduce this score
Because Direct exposure dominates in Medanales (99.1%), the highest-leverage fix is defensible space, not roofing or vents alone — covered in the home-hardening guide.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly how USFS turned 215 counted buildings into the percentiles shown above for Medanales. For more on what direct exposure implies beyond Medanales, see the exposure-zones guide.